Gunstar Green wrote:One of my only gripes is the sellers that re-list when they don't get what they were looking for in an auction but that's a one way ticket to negative feedback for them.

I've seen this from another person or two here, isn't why the reserve bid exists, so that the seller *can* get what they want out of an item without having to pull a dishonest move like re-listing it because they didn't get their price for it?

Xeogred wrote:The obvious answer is that it's time for the Dreamcast 2.

I think it is positive and negative...I like that more people are getting involved, it only means the items you do have in your collection will continue to increase in value. But I hate the fact that Goodwills and other thrift stores are catching on. I have seen sports games for 10+ too and it makes me want to scream.

I also was going to a used DVD store near my house and scoring boxed games in great shape for the past 2 years...for cart only prices. Recently I asked to be put on the phone list so they would call me when boxed SNES and 64 games arrive...and because of this the manager realized that boxed games are worth more. I guess it is my fault for "alerting" them by asking to only be called if boxed games arrive, but at the same time I told the manager he just lost my business because I wasn't going to pay ebay prices for his games. The whole reason I came to his shop was because I could hunt and find games that I wanted to a decent price. Now when I go there I see the same boxed games sitting there for week at a time because no one wants to pay full retail. I asked him the other day if it was worth it, in the past he couldn't keep the boxed games on the shelf, they sold same day...now he waits a couple months to make his money back. It really pissed me off because I tried to see what he would offer me for my boxed games I wanted to dump and he offered me half of the cart only price.

I still think the only place to get good deals is flea markets or garage sales. A month ago I scored 20 boxed N64 games for $0.25 each and one of them was Bomberman the Second Attack...it was an old guy who had no idea what they were worth. I gave him a couple extra bucks just for giving such great deals.

I too still think that flea markets are one of the last good resources. But I'm getting more and more weary of them. There is this one old guy that checks eBay for sure, and he even admits it. The only saving grace between them and Goodwill is that I can barter them down a bit. Usually get a couple of games for a cheaper overall price.

My issue is that there is only one very "overtapped" flea market near me. So geographically I'm screwed. This is why I started going over to eBay. But man oh man the times have changed.

I'm one of the collectors that isn't doing it for the money. You see a lot of Youtube videos of so called "collectors" that show what they find and then offer up with a particular item is "worth." To me, that isn't collecting. That's hoarding until you can re-sell. I personally don't care what my stuff is "worth." It holds personal and sentimental value to me. That is why I give dupes away to my friends rather than charge for them. But that is also why I like to spend $3 to $5 for games (no matter what they are) rather than $10 to $20. LOL. I'm not looking to retire with my collection some day. I just like to play with the games.

I have a greedy uncle (of course... an eBay seller) that claims he is a collector. But he isn't. He just sells on eBay all day long. He always tells me, man if I got a hold of your collection, the money I could make.

Is that really what it's all about? I for one am here for the games. Not the money. Just sayin'.

I wouldn't really demonize the re-sellers either (other than the completely insane ones who think Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt is worth its weight in solid gold). They're also an important part of this "economy" of retro games.

Some games can rot at flea markets for years without being discovered, the re-seller who is most likely going to put the game online or in their store is charging more to make a profit, yes, but they're making it available to a much larger number of people people which makes it easier for a collector looking for that game to find it, even if they're on the other side of the world. They help increase the availability of games online that would otherwise just be sitting in local flea markets in areas where there's little interest in them.

Yeah I get annoyed when stuff gets picked clean by re-sellers too but their existence isn't entirely negative. Also lots of members of Racketboy grow their personal collections by buying up games to re-sell or trade here on the forums.

Gunstar Green wrote:I wouldn't really demonize the re-sellers either. They're also an important part of this "economy" of retro games.

Some games can rot at flea markets for years without being discovered, the re-seller who is most likely going to put the game online or in their store is charging more to make a profit, yes, but they're making it available to a much larger number of people people which makes it easier for a collector looking for that game to find even if they're on the other side of the world.

Yeah I get annoyed when stuff gets picked clean by re-sellers too but their existence isn't entirely negative. Also lots of members of Racketboy grow their personal collections by buying up games to re-sell or trade here on the forums.

Buying and selling stuff to fund your hobby is one thing, but most of these resellers have zero interest in the hobby at all. They just do it for the money.

Sure, there may be a silver lining like you said, but I can't help but feel that we'd be better off as a whole without them.

pvt_awol wrote:I'm one of the collectors that isn't doing it for the money. You see a lot of Youtube videos of so called "collectors" that show what they find and then offer up with a particular item is "worth."

Sure, there may be a silver lining like you said, but I can't help but feel that we'd be better off as a whole without them.

I'm not so sure we would be. Would it be so easy to hop onto eBay and find whatever game you want if the re-sellers didn't exist? Local markets are great but my collection would be pretty dreary if I had to rely on them alone.

At its core the complaint is, "Games are getting too expensive." Both sellers (for trying to maximize profits) and collectors (for hyping up certain games and caving to inflated prices) share the blame there.

As for the Youtube video re-seller people, yeah they can be pretty insufferable.

For me dealers are whats killing the hobby for ex. D&Dgameworld a guy went in with mint copies of diablo,ff7 black label, and ergeiz the owner is offered 10. for everything the owner agrees to 30.00 cash and 15.00 credit cause the store doesn't have 45.00 cash at 1pm to pay him. I was in the next day to look for a saturn rf i saw diablo was 60.00, ff7 45.00, ergeiz was 35.00 This guy prices his stuff above ebay bin prices and condition makes no price difference. The only reason this place is still open is cause it is only open 2 days a week in a flea market.